


The Legend of Pete's Pike

by Merlin Missy (mtgat)



Category: DuckTales (Cartoon 2017)
Genre: F/F, Fishing, Misses Clause Challenge, Pre-Relationship, Wishes
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-25
Updated: 2018-12-25
Packaged: 2019-09-19 13:58:24
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,251
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17002977
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mtgat/pseuds/Merlin%20Missy
Summary: Scrooge takes Donald and the kids to find Pete's Pike, a legendary fish that grants your heart's desire. Webby already knows her heart's desire.





	The Legend of Pete's Pike

**Author's Note:**

  * For [PenguinZero](https://archiveofourown.org/users/PenguinZero/gifts).



Surrounded on three sides by majestic firs stretching into an indigo sky above, and overlooking a sedate river teeming with fish, Webby decided this was the nicest place she'd ever gone camping. The view was only spoiled by the sight of the McDuck jeep smashed into a huge tree trunk. Launchpad stood next to the wreck, scratching his head.

Dewey stood beside him. "That's gonna be a ding on your insurance premiums."

"Insurance?" Launchpad said with obvious confusion.

Meanwhile, Huey and Webby were already setting up their tents. Huey had his Junior Woodchuck Guide open, slowly working through the step-by-step instructions for perfect tent construction. Webby humored him, but there were only so many ways these poles and lines could go, and once she started poking the stretchy-poky sticks into the pockets, the rest did not need full-page diagrams.

She glanced over at Donald – she couldn't quite make herself call him "Uncle" even though he'd said she could – who busied himself with putting together his fishing pole. It looked basic enough, built like the tent poles to slot in together, but he'd already managed to step on the fishing line.

"Um, Donald?" she said, but it was too late. Donald tripped over the line at his foot, managed to get both feet tangled, struggled to get himself free as he quacked in growing annoying, and wound up tied neatly on the ground, unable to move.

Louie was the closest to him. "Don't worry, Uncle Donald. I've got my handy Junior Woodchuck pocket knife with me." He snapped the blade open.

Huey stopped and patted his sides. "Louie, that's _my_ handy Junior Woodchuck pocket knife."

Louie shrugged. "Now, now. You said all Junior Woodchucks share and share alike. I'm sharing your pocket knife." He bent down to untie Donald. "Sharing is important. Uncle Donald, in exchange for cutting you free, you can share your wish from Pete's Pike with me. That seems fair, doesn't it?"

Uncle Scrooge, who had been watching this with a vaguely annoyed detachment, stomped over to Donald and poked at the fishing line with his cane. The line came loose enough for Donald to struggle free without Louie's help.

"We have already gone over this," he said to them all. "The Legend of Pete's Pike is just that: a legend. I know I told you the story about the magical fish that will grant whoever catches it the wish of their heart's desire, but I don't actually believe it, and you shouldn't either."

A curious quiet settled over their group as Huey and Webby returned to setting up the tents and Launchpad opened the dented trunk of the jeep. Your heart's desire! Who wouldn't want that? They had chatted about the legend all the way here. Launchpad wanted an uncrashable plane. Huey said he would ask for world peace, but he'd be fine with a new pocket knife with infinite gadgets. Louie had said he wanted to be the most famous duck in the world, and Scrooge said he wanted to stay the most famous duck in the world, which had led to a funny staring contest. The rest of them hadn't said much. Webby had been prepared when she'd been asked. There was a dolly she'd wanted when she'd been very little, and Grammy hadn't been able to afford it back then. The boys had laughed at her for wanting a stupid doll, even when Webby had pointed out the dolly had karate-chop action arms and came packaged with a real working spy wristwatch. Thinking back, she'd really just wanted the cool watch, but talking about the dolly turned the others away from asking her anything else.

She knew what Dewey's heart's desire was. Anyway, it was just a silly legend.

Louie closed the pocket knife, and tossed it back to Huey. "So why are we here?" he asked. "You said we were going to catch this fish. If you don't believe in the legend, why do we care?" Behind him, Donald began restringing his fishing pole. Webby kept an eye on his progress.

"Ah, my old rival Glomgold was bragging he was going to come catch this wee beast to wish himself the richest duck in the world. We're here first to make sure he doesn't." Scrooge stepped to the river's bank. "Once we catch Pete's Pike, we'll relocate the poor thing to a nature preserve where Glomgold can't hurt it."

He said something to himself that Webby didn't catch. A quiet voice said in her ear, "He said, 'An' I might 'appen to ask it for a few favors first.'" The voice was barely a whisper, and did a horrible but funny impression of Scrooge's accent. Webby covered her giggle with a cough.

No one else ever heard Lena's voice. She'd asked, carefully, but even when the whisper at her shoulder became a shout, or sang loud, off-key songs to wake Webby up when she was oversleeping, nobody else heard. At first, she'd been scared. Maybe she was losing her mind! But she didn't seem to have lost anything else, and Lena had never been scary, not even after Webby found out what she was. Lena was the closest person Webby had ever found to understanding all the weird stuff she thought about all the time. Now Lena was made of thought, and she was at Webby's side through thick, thin, and thunderlizards.

Every night after Webby was tucked into her bed, they told stories to each other, and shared funny secrets. Lena was her shadow, and couldn't leave her, but shadows could stretch out quite a bit to peer around corners or listen at doors. Not for harm. Not any more.

Webby had met ghosts. Lena wasn't one of them. She hadn't hatched from an egg, but had been woven together by magic, and when her existence ended, she hadn't died because she'd never really been alive. She was something else.

"I can't explain it," she'd said once in the darkness, her comforting presence beside Webby under the covers. "I was supposed to be an echo of Aunt Magica, but I remember always being myself. I don't know what I am now."

Webby couldn't hold her hand to squeeze, or give her a hug, or anything. She tried to think 'hug' at her as she said, "You're not a what, you're a who, and I know exactly who you are. You're Lena, and you're the best friend I've ever had, and I love you."

She'd felt warm, and maybe Lena thought 'hug' back at her as she'd said in a choked whisper, "Back atcha."

And right then, Webby had decided she would do whatever it took to get Lena back for real, even if it meant listening to silly old legends and chasing down magical fish.

Soon enough, the tents were in place, and Donald had all the fishing poles ready after tying himself to one only once more. Webby took a moment to call her Grammy and let her know everything was fine, then she picked up one of the fishing poles and looked into the bait box. "What is this stuff?" She took an investigative smell. It was curiously familiar.

Lena said, "Don't eat it." Webby pulled her head away.

"The most effective bait ever made!" said Donald proudly. "Equal parts flour, sugar, eggs, butter, and a secret ingredient!" He picked up a fingerful of the putty-like substance and stuck some on his fishing hook, then displayed it proudly.

Huey looked at the bait, and to Webby's horror, took a small bite. "It's cookie dough. Your bait is cookie dough." He took another nibble. "If we have some left over, I can bake us up some campfire cookies tonight."

Donald took his pole in a steady swing to cast off. To no one's surprise, he hooked the back of his own shirt.

Louie followed Huey's lead and took a bite of the cookie dough bait. "Not bad. Not bad."

Launchpad took a fingerful of his own and ate it. "Pretty good stuff!"

Dewey looked at Webby, then at Donald. "The secret ingredient is worms, isn't it?"

"Yep," said Donald.

Louie spit out his bite and started coughing. Launchpad swallowed audibly and grabbed another bite. Scrooge smacked his hand lightly. "Save it for the fish."

They set up along the river bank. Dewey wanted to take a boat to the other side to cover both sides at once, but changed his mind when Launchpad offered to row. He stood ten feet away from Webby, casting and pulling his line over and over. "Here, fish. Come get your nice bait!"

Huey stood ten feet to Webby's other side. She tried to mimic his motions. She'd only gone fishing once, when she'd almost been killed by Glomgold after he recovered from his amnesia. Before that, there hadn't been many opportunities to go fishing in the mansion, except when she wanted to pretend, and fish down the air ducts for lost treasure and paperclips. This was peaceful, even with Donald singing further down the river.

Huey kept glancing down at his guide book. "How 'wee' are we expecting this fish to be, Uncle Scrooge? The Junior Woodchuck Guide Book says pike can grow to be up to 25 kilograms." Louie stared at his brother from the other side, until Dewey said, "Over fifty pounds."

Scrooge shrugged. "We'll see when we see." He cast his own line out.

A noise started over the sound of Donald's singing. Webby ignored it at first until it grew loud. "What's that?" she asked.

The voice at her shoulder said, "Trouble."

"I'm not sure," said Dewey, who was the furthest one down. He lowered his fishing rod and stared out, shading his eyes to see better. "Uh oh."

The huge fishing boat came into view, the coal-fired engines spitting out black smoke as it moved up the river. None of them missed the giant "G" on the side, and if they had, Glomgold standing on the bow would have driven the message home without it.

Scrooge let out a disgusted groan. "I knew we should have gotten here faster."

"Hello, Scroogey!" Glomgold shouted from his boat. "I've come to catch that fish!"

"Go jump in a lake, Glomgold!" Scrooge shouted back.

The fishing boat lowered its nets, trawling through the placid river for the pike as the two billionaires exchanged insults back and forth.

Webby and the boys gathered together. Donald grabbed Launchpad and said something into his ear.

"This is bad," said Dewey. "If Glomgold gets Pete's Pike first, there's no telling what he'll wish for."

Louie said, "Sure there is. He's going to wish to be the richest duck in the world."

Webby picked up her fishing rod and cast it in again. There hadn't been any bites yet, and Glomgold was likely to be scaring the rest of the fish away if they didn't hurry. "Huey, any ideas?"

"I wish I did," he said. "Hey, I've got one! We should send Launchpad to … " He looked where Donald and Launchpad had been talking, but Launchpad had already grabbed their little rowboat and was taking it to Glomgold's ship. "Uncle Donald?"

Donald looked back at the kids, and he winked.

Huey said, "Did you just fire Launchpad and tell him to go work for Glomgold so he'll sail the fishing boat and sink it?"

Donald stared at him. "How did you know that?"

"That's the idea I just thought of."

"No," Webby said, understanding. "You said you wished you had an idea, and one came to you."

They all stared into the river. A fish lurked just below the surface, ignoring their bait and staring at them. Pete's Pike!

"Get him!" Louie said, pouncing into the cold river. His hands grabbed onto the slippery fish, which dragged him a few feet before wriggling free. The other three looked at each other, and made their way into the water after him.

"Do you know how to swim?" Lena asked.

Webby said, "Sure I do."

"Sure you do what?" Huey asked her.

"Nothing." She giggled nervously. "Let's catch that fish!"

But the fish didn't want to be caught. The pike swam towards the middle of the river, and the riverbed fell away below them as they paddled. Behind them on the shore, Donald shouted, "Kids, get back here!"

Scrooge and Glomgold stopped their shouting match, seeing where the children were swimming.

"Aha!" said Glomgold. "Turn this ship thataway!" With a triumphant grin, he pointed towards the middle of the river where the pike had gone.

"Aye, aye, sir," said the voice of his ship's new helmsman. Glomgold turned to see Launchpad standing at the wheel, waving. "Hi, best friend Dewey! Hi, not-Deweys!" As he waved, the wheel turned in his hands.

"Get your hands on the wheel, you nincompoop!" shouted Glomgold. But it was too late. The fishing boat went out of control. Unfortunately, it was coming right for them!

"Got it!" Dewey said, diving under and coming up with his arms full of a struggling fish. "Help me get this guy!"

Huey swam closer to grab on, just as the fish wiggled free again.

"Get back here!" Donald shouted.

The voice at Webby's shoulder said, "Go back towards the shore."

"But I have to catch the pike!"

"I know. So go back." Webby hesitated, then started swimming back towards the bank.

Louie grabbed hold of a fin, and was pulled along again. Donald, giving up on getting their attention, dove into the water and came for the boys. The boat was getting close.

"Glomgold," Scrooge shouted. "Turn your boat around!"

"Tell him that!" Glomgold pointed at Launchpad, who was being dragged around by the wheel the same way Louie was being dragged through the river.

Louie went under the water and came up again. He wailed, "I wish this would stop!"

Instantly, the fish was gone from his grasp, leaving him directly in the path of the speeding ship. 

Donald said, "I wish I could swim faster!" Suddenly he zoomed through the water like a torpedo, swooping up the boys as he went, shoving them safely away. Glomgold's boat rushed by, and crashed against the one lonely rock outcrop in the middle of the river.

On the opposite side of the river, Donald hugged his nephews. On this one, Webby paddled to the shallows. Scrooge said, "It's high time Launchpad crashed someone else's vehicles for a change." He cupped his hands around his beak. "Launchpad! You're rehired!"

"Thanks, Mr. McD!"

"Look down," said Lena. Webby looked down. The pike lurked in the water near the bank, hiding among the tall water plants and reeds. Up close, it was olive green with a lemon-yellow belly, and it stared at her with knowing eyes.

"Hello," she said. Part of her thought she ought to grab one of the big nets up on the shore and capture the pike right now. But she didn't.

The others were ignoring her. Glomgold had splashed into the middle of the river, searching for the pike on his own. Scrooge waded then swam out to best him at the search. Webby bent down to the surface of the water.

"Uncle Scrooge wants to take you to a nature preserve," she told the fish. "But I think you're better off taking care of yourself, aren't you?"

The fish nodded.

"Do a lot of people come to you asking for wishes?"

It is a known truth that, having no shoulders, fish cannot possibly shrug. Still, the pike managed a surprisingly eloquent shrug: what did it care about the number of people who asked for wishes? Fish couldn't count.

"They say you grant the wish that's your heart's desire. My heart wants my best friend Lena back. I miss her so much."

"I miss you, too."

"But I know Dewey's heart's desire is to have his mom back safe from wherever she is, and I'm sure that's Donald's wish, too. I think if Grammy was here instead of back at McDuck Manor, her heart's desire would be for my mom and dad to be alive again, even though I don't remember them at all. And I don't want them to be sad because I got my heart's desire when they didn't."

She took a deep breath.

"So I guess my wish is to have them all back. Lena, and Della, and my parents, too." Webby looked at the fish. "Is that too much to ask?"

The fish swam in a tight circle three times, and Webby had a sad feeling she knew what it meant. The pike couldn't return the dead to life. Lena said, "But I'm not dead, and neither is Della Duck."

The pike stopped swimming, and it nodded again.

Around them in the river, Scrooge and Glomgold shouted at each other, Launchpad was putting the small rowboat back into the river, and Donald and the boys were now searching the reeds on the other side of the river, still looking for the fish. No one paid any attention at all as the water around Webby bubbled and churned, the shadows she cast around her from the sunshine above merging and shifting into complex patterns. In no time at all, they formed into the shape of a girl, dripping wet.

Webby threw her arms around her. Lena hugged her back, warm and alive and real.

On the other side of the river, she heard sudden confusing squawking as the boys and Donald abruptly stopped swimming and started shouting in amazement. Webby risked a glance over, but they weren't looking at her at all. They were busy scrambling over each other to reach the woman in the space suit who'd appeared at the opposite river bank.

Scrooge and Glomgold stopped their search. Scrooge's mouth opened wide. For a moment, he turned his head, looked at Webby and Lena, and his eyes dropped to the water at their feet. Understanding moved over his face. He winked at Webby. Then he started swimming to the other shore to greet his long lost niece.

Glomgold swore, and was about to start after him, when he followed where Scrooge had looked. Then he paddled frantically towards Webby.

Webby finally let go of the hug, but kept hold of Lena's hand. They'd been constant companions for a long time now, and Webby had no intention of letting her slip away ever again. She looked down at the pike. "Thank you. You'd better swim away now."

"Yeah," said Lena. She looked at Webby and squeezed her hand, then looked at the fish. "I wish you would go hide somewhere safe and could never be found again by anybody ever again."

With a flick of fin, the pike dove deep, and was out of sight.

"Where is it?" Glomgold demanded, paddling to them. "You found Pete's Pike! Where did he go?"

"It's gone," said Webby.

Lena said, "Far away where you can't ever find it."

Glomgold let out a disgusted cry of annoyance and dove under the water, batting at the reeds and plants, searching for the pike. Webby and Lena got out of the river. Lena's first steps wobbled, but Webby helped her. "Sorry," Lena said. "First day with the new legs." The girls both laughed, and Webby hugged her again. She wanted to hug Lena every day from now on.

Maybe she said it out loud, or maybe Lena was still part of her thoughts. Lena said, "Back atcha," and that was all that mattered.


End file.
